tie.governorromneyuptwo points there. again, a dead heat inthepollnumbersin the battleground of the suburbs. and among key older voters, 50 and older, those most reliable to vote, the president up one point. a statistical tie. you look at this, it's dramatic turnaround from governor romney two weeks ago a lot of republicans saying is there any way we can win without ohio? you know the history as well as anyone. no republican has ever won without this state. that soul searching is now over. the governor will be here today. you're going to talk to him in a bit. they now say ohio is back in play. they need it back in play. no way to win without it. >> a critical state. there are some areas in this new poll where significant gaps do remain, john. how does that bode for the final month of campaigning? we're now in the final month. >> reporter: it's fascinating. we are in the final month. four weeks from today america votes. here's something encouraging for governor romney. because this is a state with a significant african-american population, president obama has a strong base her

mittromney. he'sheading for ohio where we have brandnewpollnumbersjust coming in. we're going to see what a difference one debate has made. also, rare access into the syrian president bashar al assad's inner circle. a one-time insider sits down with cnn, admits covering up crimes and so much more. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> this just coming into "the situation room" as we await our interview with mitt romney, we have brands new poll numbers from one of the most crucial battleground states in the country certainly on the cnn electoral college map, ohio. both presidential candidates will be there today. and look at this. romney's catching up dramatically. president obama's still ahead 51% to 47%. but his four-point lead falls now within the poll's sampling error. the president had a nine-point lead in our most recent poll of polls in ohio, which was completed just before last week's presidential debate in denver. our chief national correspondent john king is joining us from the state capital of columbus right now. john, you're taking a closer look at t

in that first debate withmittromney. wasit just a question of manners? also,whilepollsshowmittromneyturningthings around, he still faces a big hurdle in a critical battleground state. why ohio's so-called walmart moms may not be sold on the republican nominee. and should race or ethnic background be considered when students apply to college? the u.s. supreme court weighs a new challenge to affirmative action. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> the obama administration got a grilling today over the assault on the united states consulate in benghazi, libya, that took the lives of the united states ambassador and three other americans. state department officials took a lot of heat in a partisan congressional hearing. and the white house was also bombarded with questions today about the handling of the entire incident. let's go live to our white house correspondent, dan lothian. he's got the very latest. dan. >> reporter: wolf, you know, this was the first briefing that we've had in about two w